The performance of our spacecraft far exceeded our original design requirements. The voyage was originally expected to take 1,300 years, but because of the existence of four super-vacuums on the route, the fleet reached the edge of the solar system three hundred years earlier. After arrival, the quantum communication we secretly installed was awakened, and we began our tracking and recording of the entire process.

At the first few nodes when quantum communication was turned on, it was only detected that all the spacecraft had stopped flying and stopped at a distance of 0.5 light years from the solar system. Quantum communication showed that the eight spacecraft were unusually quiet, without any communication or discussion. If we had not seen the intermittent images inside the spacecraft, we would have thought that all the messengers of civilization had disappeared.

Because our quantum detection system was affected by the magnetic field, the communication was intermittent and took a month to debug before it returned to normal. Only then did we know the reason why the spacecraft stopped moving.

The big data of the entire flight process is normal, but after reaching the edge of the solar system, the small data of the solar system that was originally set is abnormal. It can be said that all the data are wrong.

Because after the spacecraft reached the edge, it was discovered that the entire solar system could be said to be wrapped in a bubble-like cloud, and it could be observed that the cloud layer was nearly 1.5 light years thick. The entire cloud layer was composed of large and small meteorites of different shapes, and this cloud layer seemed to be rotating slowly and irregularly.

What is most incomprehensible to us is that we can only see its thickness. When exploring and viewing from the outside in, the object does exist, but everything we see is blurry, even blurrier than the objects seen in Orion. There is another phenomenon that is even more incomprehensible, that is, in addition to light, all signals in the bubble seem to be refracted when passing through this outer cloud, just like water passing through a valve controller.

The spacecraft was in a very passive situation at that time. If it continued to explore through the cloud, it would definitely be dangerous. If it did not pass through the cloud, the spacecraft would not have enough fuel to return. Now there were two choices: pass through or stop the ship permanently, and all messengers entered a silent state, waiting for the next batch of rescue.

The Atlantis civilization, the magnetic field civilization, and the Muria civilization agreed to continue exploring, but the consciousness-like civilization strongly opposed it, insisting that it would be more valuable to wait for rescue.

According to the rules set by the alliance, after the spacecraft flies out, important orders must be agreed upon by all the senior executives of the spacecraft before they can be executed. If one of them disagrees, then the order is not allowed to be executed. They have no choice but to report all the situations to the alliance, and then enter a ten-year silent state, waiting for the final decision.

. . . . . .

After they entered silence, our top management had a high-level internal secret meeting, and it was this meeting that decided the next move of the spacecraft.

Here is the full transcript of the meeting:

Senior Executive 1: Their signals have been temporarily stopped. We have four nodes to make the next decision. I think we should start the quantum operating system and let the ship continue to fly forward while they are in a silent state. What is your decision?

Senior Executive 2: We will definitely fly, but how will we handle the distress signal? We can only temporarily stop sending the signal, but it will be sent back sooner or later. Once the Alliance knows that the spacecraft has forced its way in, they will definitely find out that we have installed something on the spacecraft that they don't know about. If a dispute arises, we will be in a passive position. Our chances of winning if we challenge two civilizations at the same time are zero.

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Senior Executive Three: I have thought of that weapon, and it should be possible to use it, but it requires everyone’s authorization.

Senior Executive Four: This weapon can be authorized, but if so many messengers are authorized at the same time, I’m afraid that it won’t be cleared up in the end and will lead to all the data being falsified. If there is too much data falsification, it may lead to our destruction.

Senior Executive 1: Okay, let's do this. Start it. It happens to be the next alliance duty point. We choose to receive the signal. After the signal is received, order them to modify the signal and change it to normal follow-up data. Remember to exchange the identities of the selected duty messenger and our Guards Corps, and let the Guards Corps take charge of this matter. After completion, execute them all. After storing for ten superstar days, these memories can be erased before rebirth.

Agree, Agree, Agree

The resolution was passed.

After the resolution was passed, we took back all operating rights of the spacecraft, forced all messengers into deep sleep, and then divided into two teams, driving the spacecraft of the conscious civilization to lead the way and fly deep into the clouds.

…

We have taken into account all the special situations that we can calculate and have prepared various response plans. However, when the spacecraft turned on automatic driving and assisted driving and entered the clouds, something beyond the special situation occurred and quantum communication was completely interrupted. According to the Earth time, the whole process lasted more than 6 hours.

After the communication was normal, a clear picture was transmitted back. We could see that there were minerals of different sizes distributed inside the clouds, including iron, nickel, gold, etc. After flying for about 65 solar days, it began to become brighter, because after passing through the mineral area, we came to the ice meteorite resource area. The ice was vaporized at the tail end of the spacecraft's power system, and then instantly turned into ice crystals at absolute zero. The ice crystals condensed together to form a large ice block, just like humans opening and closing doors backwards.

The spacecraft is the fastest to pass through this area. Using the principle of reflected light from laser irradiation and comparing magnetic field data, it was discovered that there are no large celestial bodies within 0.8 light years. Ninety-nine percent of it is ice. At the end of the cloud layer is a mixed zone of ice and methane with a thickness of 0.6 light years.

Taking into account the information we have detected and the strength of the spacecraft, we set the speed and time point, chose to accelerate through the ice meteorite area, and finally adjusted the speed to the maximum optimized speed at a distance of 0.005 light years from the methane area and then turned off the engine, relying on inertia to break out of the last layer of methane area.

We thought our scientific design must be perfect, but we almost paid a heavy price for our arrogance. We didn't know why the spacecraft flew to the methane area ahead of time. After arriving at the methane area, the high-temperature tail flame of the spacecraft quickly dissolved the ice and produced a large amount of water vapor and oxygen ions. At this time, the tail flames of the two fleets' follow-up spacecraft were like a match, instantly igniting the surrounding methane. Fortunately, the spacecraft was fast enough. Except for the damaged engines of the last two ships, the outer protective layers of the other ships were damaged to varying degrees but all needed to be repaired.

We had no choice but to wake up the messengers and deceive them into telling them that the communications had been updated for 1,300 years, that their data had not been sent back due to technical failure, that the spacecraft had stayed for too long, that the spacecraft's timed autopilot system had been activated, and that it had chosen to continue flying towards the solar system, and that we told them everything that had happened during the flight through the clouds.

According to the sailing speed, theoretically it would take nearly three hours of sailing to reach the methane area, but arriving a few hours earlier is indeed incredible.

Later, we compared the data and found that the solar system, with the Oort Cloud as its boundary, is six hours slower inside than outside. That is to say, when we send a command, the quantum communication should normally have a time difference of one hour, and we have already calculated this time difference. But when the spacecraft receives the command, it has actually been flying for six hours, which is why the spacecraft enters the methane zone ahead of time. This may also be the reason why signal refraction occurs.

Through the analysis of more data, our scientific cognition has been broken, because through all the data analysis, the following conclusion has been drawn 100% that the solar system is locked by some force. The time in the entire solar system is 6.5 hours slower than the outside world, and it is unknown what force makes the entire area non-existent with superluminal speed. It can be said that this is a low-latitude civilization graveyard, you can enter but you can't leave, but it is also the cradle of low-level civilization, because this is the safest area.

We told these exploring messengers everything, and now they have no choice but to move on.